Summary
This lesson focuses on the theme of mob mentality. Students will look for connections between informational text and a piece of fiction from the book "The Outsiders." Students will analyze the actions of characters from "The Outsiders" and determine whether the characters acted independently or as part of a mob mentality. Students will make connections to their own lives as middle school students and explore how mob mentality, herd mentality, or "following the crowd," might affect their daily decision-making.
Essential Question(s)
Why do people follow the crowd in certain situations? How does reality influence fiction?
Snapshot
Engage
Students move to posters with pictures and statements of trends they are attracted to and repelled from.
Explore
Students annotate unfamiliar words, details that support main ideas, and main ideas as they read about mob mentality.
Explain
Students complete a graphic organizer, citing examples of when characters in The Outsiders demonstrate mob mentality or when they demonstrate independent thinking.
Extend
Students watch a video with a real-world example of mob mentality and discuss times they have seen or felt mob mentality in real life.
Evaluate
Students reflect on and create memes that depict their learning.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Magnetic Statements Posters (attached; one copy of each)
Students Give Into Mob Mentality (attached; one per student)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton Excerpt (attached; one per student)
The Outsiders Character Graphic Organizer (attached; one per student)
Highlighters
Student devices with internet access
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate the lesson. Display slides 2-4 to introduce the essential questions and learning objective.
Ask the class to think about trends for a moment. Display slide 5-8 and allow time for students to read the summaries of some former trends. Display slide 9. Direct students to the Magnetic Statements posters that are displayed around the room. Instruct students to walk around the room and stand next to the trend that most attracts or interests them. Once they have formed groups at the posters, invite students to discuss their choices with others who also chose the same trend. Ask for each group of students to share out why they were attracted to that trend.
Move to slide 10 and repeat the process. This time ask students to move to a trend that they think is ridiculous, silly, or unpleasant. Again, allow time for students who are grouped around each trend to discuss it among themselves and then share out why that trend repelled them.
Have students return to their seats. As a class, ask for volunteers to share what they believe a definition of a "trend" might be after completing this activity. After volunteers have shared, move to slide 11. Discuss how the class definition compares to the dictionary definition. Ask the class to think about why a trend becomes popular and call on volunteers to share their ideas.
Explore
25 Minute(s)
Provide each student a copy of the Students Give Into The Mob Mentality handout (attached). Share with students that this article was written by a ninth-grade student for a high school newspaper. Ask students to read the article one time through. If students need support with reading informational text, consider reading the text aloud first as students follow along, or have students take turns reading aloud.
Display slide 12 and introduce the CUS and Discuss strategy for reading and annotating. Ask students to go back through the article, ask them to circle unfamiliar words, underline details that support main ideas, and star main ideas. Once they have finished reading, display slide 13. Ask students to share any words that they circled as unfamiliar with the class. Discuss the meaning of these words with the entire class.
Next, pair students together. Invite partners to discuss their main ideas and their supporting details. Ask pairs to share some of the main ideas from the story with the class.
Once the class has shared main ideas, revisit the lesson's essential questions on slide 14. Lead a class discussion asking students:
Why do people follow the crowd in certain situations?
What did we learn about mob mentality
from the reading?
Explain
45 Minute(s)
Provide each student a copy of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton Excerpt handout (attached) and The Outsiders Character Graphic Organizer handout (attached). Display slide 15. Prompt students to read the excerpt from Chapter 2 of The Outsiders. As students read, ask them to use the Categorical Highlighting strategy to identify times when the characters go with the crowd and times when they make decisions on their own.
Move to slide 16 and explain the Examples and Non-Examples strategy. Ask students to think about the characters in The Outsiders, reviewing the details they highlighted. Ask students to think:
Are there times when Ponyboy, Cherry, and Johnny go with the crowd? If so, when?
Are there times when Ponyboy, Cherry, and Johnny make decisions on their own? If so, when?
Ask students to provide examples or evidence from the text when these characters demonstrate mob mentality and non-examples of other times when the same characters demonstrate independent thinking.
Extend
24 Minute(s)
Display slide 17 and play the video Social Conformity - Brain Games.
After the video, move to slide 18 and use the Hot Potato strategy to lead a class discussion. Prompt students to discuss how "following the crowd" was presented in the video and how people reacted to it. Ask students what influences the characters from The Outsiders to go along with the crowd. Continue the conversation by asking students for an example of a time when they have seen or experienced mob mentality in real life, and why they think it exists in our society.
Evaluate
10 Minute(s)
Display slide 19 and introduce the Make a Meme strategy. Using their devices, ask students to visit the website on the slide to create a meme that depicts their learning in regard to one of the essential questions:
Why do people follow the crowd in certain situations?
How does reality influence fiction?
After students have created their memes, ask for volunteers to share their creation with the class and explain which prompt they responded to and what their meme means.
Resources
Hinton, S.E. (1967). The Outsiders (1st ed.). Viking.
K20 Center. (n.d.). Categorical highlighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/192
K20 Center. (n.d.). CUS and discuss. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/162
K20 Center. (n.d.). Examples and non-examples. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/163
K20 Center. (n.d.) Gramit. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/2554
K20 Center. (n.d.) Hot potato. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/4465
K20 Center. (n.d.). Magnetic statements. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/166
K20 Center. (n.d). Make a meme. Tech tool. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/2178
Squalli, M. (2015). Social conformity—Brain games [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8BkzvP19v4&feature=youtu.be
Stathakis, G. (2018). Students give into the mob mentality. The Coyote Chronicle. https://fcuscoyotejournalism.com/770/archive/students-give-into-the-mob-mentality/